Gratitude Vitamins

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Your Environment's Impact

Energy Drains

It's possible to be overworked and underutilized. 

This isn't readily apparent because our attempts to adjust and keep moving forward limit our focus and deplete our energy even more. And, we end up operating with diminished capacity without realizing it. 

I see this all the time with leaders and their teams. It's as if you have waited a little too long to put oxygen masks on yourself and your brain is more stared for oxygen than they know.

Of course, there is a remedy - like 'pure oxygen' - for this creeping deprivation of energy and resilience. 

Resilence Reset

When the best in you is cultivated by your leader and work culture, you bring a keener sense of focus, commitment and endurance to the challenges you face. In productive yet challenging environments you feel safe enough to experiment and make mistakes. Individual and collective/team contributions are supported and recognized. So progress and results end up being more remarkable than you ever imagined possible. 

If this thriving environment is not available in the culture where you work, find simple yet consistent ways to give genuine encouragement, recognition and appreciation to yourself and your team. Whenever possible, walk in nature to experience a natural energy reset. Notice how much more resilent you feel. And, notice the positive impact your attitudinal and behavioral shifts in the environment have on individual and team engagement, performance and results. 

Trust Not Knowing

What Stops You

That indecision which haunts you. The not knowing that worries you. The second guessing that stops you. Ease away from that doubt and fear. Because... it's time now to be kind and compassionate with yourself. Even though you don't know yet what you think you need to know to move forward, pause that thought. Instead, consciously choose to take 1 next step. Allow that next step to reveal the one that follows it. Step-by- step be brave enough to voyage beyond your known frontiers to where unknown yet self-fulfilling transformation patiently awaits your arrival. Courage comes from the heart. So let your heart lead you.

Your Courage Companions

Never underestimate the power of your curiosity and wonder.

They help you regain a natural sense of yourself - calming and centering you within to step into undiscovered territory. Emboldened, you begin to find a way forward, navigating volatile, unpredictable, chaotic and ambiguous challenges.

Are Your Expectations Part of the Problem?

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Practical Travel Wisdom

In this photo I'm standing in front an ancient Venetian fountain in Zadar, Croatia just a ferry ride across the Adriatic from Italy. It was a great trip, but very different from what I expected to experience when I planned it. So I had to make daily adjustments to differences that, although not terrible, differed significantly from my expectations and what I wanted to experience.

Normally, when I travel I keep my expectations much more open-ended. That way I step into the unknown with curiosity and a genuine sense of exploration and discovery. This time I returned to Croatia with more of an agenda. Even though my natural flexibility enabled me to "go with the flow" of changes I experienced, I was very conscious of the extra energy it took to manage my expectations along the way. Next time, when I return to Croatia, I'll make sure my expectations are set in their normal travel mode. That will free me to have an even better time there, and elsewhere.

Travel requires us to manage our expectations so they don't become part of the problem that confronts us. Clearly, we cannot control flight delays or cancellations, the availability of food and comfort at airports, or when hotel accommodations fall short of website descriptions. What we can control, however, is what we expect from these experiences and how we make adjustments when they don't measure up to our expectations. 

Travel invites us to explore and discover ways to navigate the unknown and deal effectively with unexpected change. When we adapt, we see ways to become part of the solution we seek.

A Useful 'Playful Practice'

For years, I have relied on a useful practice I call "shifting to neutral." Deciding to remain calm and not react to potentially irritating disruptions helps me navigate with relative ease a mirage of domestic and international security checkpoints, long lines at ticket counters and customs, unexpected flight delays, and unfamiliar airports.

This quiet practice of "shifting to neutral" also could help you regain a sense of inner balance—emotionally and mentally—in business, leadership and life. It starts with recognizing what you can and cannot control. Then, when a person or situation begins to upset you, you immediately disconnect from that irritating or disappointing energy by imagining yourself pulling the cable and plug (through which that negative energy is moving toward you) out of its power source. This drains off the energy—dissipating its effect on you. It frees you to remain calm, centered and clear. 

Practice "shifting to neutral" and notice whether it works for you. Like my clients, discover how this simple 'playful practice' helps you to maintain a sense of inner balance even when dealing with difficult people or situations. That way, navigating change becomes less of an energy drain and more manageable.

In these radically challenging times, I think you will agree these skills are invaluable—whether you are traveling or not.

Sync with Your Success

Right Timing

Funny thing about "right timing." It has a way of not showing up when you think it should. Instead you find yourself waiting with impatience and anxiety in "the in-between" - a space between what has already happened and what has not happened yet.

What if this space where nothing seems to be happening is present for you to pause and catch up with yourself? What if it is an invitation to see without being in constant motion where you are now, given the months, weeks and days it has taken you to get there.

"The in-between" is a place where you can pause, breathe in, see, appreciate and savor what you achieved during this leg of your journey in business, leadership and life. Looking back at the distance you have traveled, you lean into and embody more deeply your professional and personal growth. Who you are now has more room to be self-expressed.

Such is the beauty and the power of patiently allowing "the in-between" to reveal its riches to you.

"What you seek is seeking you." -Rumi

The Beauty of What We'll Never Know

In his engaging TED Talk Pico Iyer reminds us that transformation comes when we are not in charge and don't know what comes next. Travel has taught him that the opposite of knowledge isn't ignorance; it's wonder. As a life long traveler, I agree. For the first law of travel is also a law of life.

"You're only as strong as your readiness to surrender."
 

The Power of Doubt

Beyond Belief

What if...

What we believe isn't true?

And, the questions we ask are the wrong questions?

When Casey Gerald's firmly held belief failed him, he searched for something to believe in — in business, in government, in philanthropy. Yet he found only false hopes. In this compelling talk, Gerald shares how he witnessed every facet of the American Dream and learned how essential it is to question our beliefs and have enough courage to embrace uncertainty.

Gerald says, “We hardly realize the human price we pay when we fail to question one brick because we fear it might shake our whole foundation.”

Play Nurtures Your Business

A Year of Saying YES to Everything

Introvert, TV Titan, and lover of work Shonda Rhimes shares the priceless and unexpected value she experienced from playing more and working less.

Are you playing enough in business, leadership and life?

Are You Saying "NO!" Enough?

The Power of a Positive "NO!"

Why You Don't Say NO!

Which of these 3 reasons keep you from finding your essential "YES!"?

1.  Accommodation

  • You want to say "No!"
  • Instead you say "yes" to please or gain approval from the person or people asking.
  • You also don't know how to say "No!" to the request.

2.  Avoidance

  • You don't return phone calls, respond to emails, or put off getting back to the person or people making the request.
  • You're very uncomfortable or afraid to say "No!" because you do not want to upset, hurt or offend the person or people asking.
  • You don't know how to say "No!" nicely.

3.  Anger/Attack

  • You really do not want to say "Yes".
  • You're angry at yourself for feeling like you can't say "No!" 
  • You begrudgingly say "yes" but with very negative agreement.

Power Up with a "No!" Sandwich

Start with Your Genuine "Yes!" (top slice of bread)

  • Know the value on which you stand, what saying "No" actually allows you to say "Yes!" to—your big, most authentic "YES!"
  • Based on what you really value, ask yourself what saying "No!" allows you to say "Yes!" to that keeps you true to yourself.

State Your Positive "No!" (meat in the middle)

  • Prepare the person asking to receive your positive "No!"
  • Stand firmly in a commitment to your value-rooted, genuine "Yes!" and say your positive "No!" from that place within yourself.

Consider Ending with "Yes!" (bottom slice of bread)

  • Start with your decision to say a Positive "No!"
  • Then, if appropriate, choose what you are willing to do that is different from what is being requested of you.
  • "I am willing to ____________________________________________ (fill in the blank).

Using this "No!" sandwich empowers you to say a Positive "NO!" It also takes you out of the unproductive loop of trying to please people or gain their approval. Instead it's possible for you to please and approve of yourself without being selfish or egotistical.

Of course, if you would like help learning and embodying this critical leadership skill, contact me. I would be happy to assist you in communicating your Positive "NO!" in difficult conversations and challenging situations.